Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5

Summary

• Callum Keith Rennie brings a fresh dynamic to Star Trek: Discovery season 5 as Rayner, challenging Burnham's authority and mission.
• Rayner's complex backstory and reluctance to form connections add depth to his character and create a compelling conflict with Burnham.
• The final season of Star Trek: Discovery promises an epic adventure across the galaxy, with dangerous foes vying for an ancient power.

Callum Keith Rennie intriguingly shakes up Star Trek: Discovery season 5 as Rayner, the former Captain of the USS Antares who joins the USS Discovery as the new First Officer.

Although at odds with Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), Rayner accepts her offer to become Discovery's new Number One, so he can continue to hunt the villainous Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis). Rayner also wants to fulfill his Red Directive mission and help Burnham find the ancient treasure of the Progenitors, which has the power to create life. But Rayner isn't looking to make friends or warm up to the USS Discovery's crew.

Screen Rant spoke to Callum Keith Rennie about how he and Rayner fit into Star Trek: Discovery season 5, Rayner's unrevealed backstory, and where Star Trek ranks in his remarkable career of starring in several major franchises and hit TV shows.

Callum Keith Rennie Discusses How Rayner Fits Into Star Trek: Discovery Season 5

Screen Rant: Rayner is already one of the best foils for Burnham in Star Trek: Discovery. Tell me about Rayner and what makes him tick, from your point of view.

Callum Keith Rennie: I think he comes from a different time. I mean, from the creation of Rayner, he comes from a more authoritarian dictatorship-style shiip commander, and The Burn, and a kind of a warring Kellerun mentality. And his jam. And it's a little act first, think later style. Let's not have a conference. Let's just do stuff.

I love the friction between Burnham and Rayner. But I also love the counterbalance that's already been shown in the way they behave towards each other.

Callum Keith Rennie: Yeah, there's a bit of like he's holding his tongue. And he's trying. I mean, that's the part that I find interesting is that he knows he's maybe his last legs here. And so he's creating conflict.

What I find really interesting, too, about Rayner is that he's been a Captain in Starfleet for 30 years, and Burnham has been Captain for 2 years. But there's now this shift in the balance of power between them. What can Burnham learn from Rayner, and vice versa?

Callum Keith Rennie: I think Rayner is learning forgiveness, and second chances, and someone put a hand out and not to bite that hand. But he is still caught in who and what he has been, and how he's functioned for so long. It's hard for him to drop that. So I think through the process of the season, there's a bit more of an understanding, of listening, compassion, and a sense of camaraderie rather than man against alien, or against the galaxy, or one guy can do it all. And for Burnham to go, 'Oh, this wildcard and that kind of style of things can help too.' So there's an amalgamation of the two of them into a functioning unit.

Rayner is on the right ship if he's going to learn compassion, and cooperation, and empathy. That's kind of Discovery's deal.

Callum Keith Rennie: Yeah, and it's hard for him. That was the fun of playing this guy. 'I don't fit in here.' And coming into a show that was already very well established, you're the new kid in school. You don't know who your alliances are gonna be. You don't know how any of it works. And so you just have a chip on your shoulder, and just try to get through. And let's see what happens. So it was interesting.

There's More To Learn About Rayner In Star Trek: Discovery

I assume Rayner has a first name and a backstory we're going to find out at some point.

You may. There's a backstory that kind of lets you know why he's wired the way he's wired, and why the Moll and L’ak thing is getting him in a way that's wound him up, maybe.

One little backstory tidbit that has already been revealed is that Rayner and Admiral Vance (Oded Fehr) were friends, and they worked together back in the day. I think that's really cool. I would love to see flashbacks or something of Rayner and Vance in a previous Starfleet.

Callum Keith Rennie: There were things. I think there were lots of opportunities if it was moving on to another season. It was all set up in the way where you go, ‘Oh, let's throw in this and this.’ And then, if it had continued, then you would get backstory bits. You would have gotten a type of history that was completely different.

I'm so glad you brought that up because it was actually one of my questions. This is the final season. But were there ideas or plans for you to stay on so we get to explore Rayner if Discovery got a season 6?

Callum Keith Rennie: Yes… We assumed it was gonna continue. We weren't shooting [season 5] as ‘this is the final season.’ They'd left loose ends going because we can put that into next season, this and that, and blah, blah, blah, all of those pieces of the puzzle that showrunners and writers are very good at so. Because I finished the season and I went, ‘Well, okay. I learned a lot. And I can't wait to come back and do other things.’

How Will Captain Rayner Rank In The Star Trek Universe?

I don't know if you've watched Star Trek Picard, but Rayner has already been compared very favorably to Todd Stashwick playing Captain Liam Shaw. And it's a pretty big compliment. Because people hated Shaw at first, and they came to love him. He's now a beloved character. And I feel like Rayner is on that same trajectory.

Callum Keith Rennie: It's good to be [hated]. And I don't know that reference though I will look it up. But [Rayner] was like, 'I don't want to be liked.' Like, he was coming in and going, 'It's not my job to be liked. And it's not my job to be liked as the captain of a ship, either.' So it was fine. Like, I went, 'If I'm hated, that might be better.' (laughs) And then, through the writing, I go, 'Oh, I see this. They're creating places of understanding and connection.' There's a journey for him. It's not just one singular path.

In episode 3, Rayner meets Discovery's crew, and then you had one-on-one meetings with everybody. And you played everything very stone-faced, but was there anything the cast said or did that actually cracked you up in real life? Because some of the stuff they were saying was hilarious.

Callum Keith Rennie: No. That sequence was... there were some bits of it that... things change in editing. But I was like, 'Dismissed. Get out. Beat it. Quick, quick, quick, quick.' The edit actually made it a lot softer than it was. It is a lot harder.

Is there a scene or a moment in season 5 that has happened yet, or it's still to come, that you loved shooting, and you can't wait for everybody to see?

Callum Keith Rennie: I mean, on first viewing, there's always a kind of like a disconnect for me. I watched [episodes] three and four again last night, and I really dug it. I really dug parts of it that I hadn't seen before. I love specific moments and where Burnham and I ended up sometimes, and it's quiet, it's not a bunch of noise. But not a specific scene because sometimes you start a scene one way, and you think know what this will be, and you go, 'Oh, this was really nice'. But you kind of have to see it to go, 'Oh, I really dug that.' And so, last night watching 50, there were some really beautiful things between Burnham and Rayner that I really got a kick out of.

504 is incredible. Without spoiling, it's the best episode I've seen so far of season five. A fantastic Star Trek episode.

Callum Keith Rennie: We're all over the place. 503 was me going, 'I want what I want.' And I have to listen to the captain of the ship tell me how to meet people who I don't want to meet. And I want to follow Moll and L'ak, I want to get Moll and L'ak, I want to do my mission. And I'm used to doing my thing my way. I'm not gonna wander around [and] have people come to me. I don't care. Okay, next, beat it. And it's an episode of, 'Who is he on the ship left to his own devices?' He's going to do his own thing. So it was fun to play.

Callum Keith Rennie Has No Idea About Star Trek's Impact On His Legacy

You've been a part of a lot of franchises. You've been in Marvel, you've been Battlestar Galactica, your career is amazing. Where does Star Trek rank for you now?

Callum Keith Rennie: Where does it rank in all of that? It ranks as the last job. You know, you've been in this business for a long time. You've done a bunch of things. But I do often have to remind myself by looking at [my] resume and I go, 'Oh, yeah!' Because there's a part of me that forgets it.

I like working, and I like doing stuff, but I always kind of forget the history of it until I look at it. It's like looking at old pictures: 'I remember that. I remember that. Oh, I remember her. I remember that. I remember that director. I remember that day. I remember that burrito. I remember all of that.' It's been an amazing career of lots of ups and downs and, some really great, solid shows like this one, and Battlestar, and Californication. Things I'm very, very proud of.

I hate to break it to you, but you're going to be known as Rayner forever now within Star Trek. And this is a fan base that follows you and will stay with you forever. Are you looking forward to doing conventions, meeting the fans, and being part of that?

Callum Keith Rennie: I've done one convention ever. And that was for Battlestar once in London, England, because somebody had dropped out, and then someone said, 'Do you want to?' and I'm like, 'I'm not sure'. This might have been 15-16, maybe 12 years ago. There's a place where I can see how participation in [Star Trek] is interesting. Again, I'm working on the show. I'm not thinking of any of that stuff.

I actually don't know anything about it because I don't know the Star Trek world. Like the Battlestar world post-show I didn't participate in. So I did the show, the show is over, then you move on to the next thing. It was never holding on to history. But this one may be different just because I had no idea the volume of things that were going to show up, and the amount of people and interviews and all of that stuff. I'm just amazed.

About Star Trek: Discovery Season 5

The fifth and final season of Star Trek: Discovery finds Captain Burnham and the crew of the USS Discovery uncovering a mystery that will send them on an epic adventure across the galaxy to find an ancient power whose very existence has been deliberately hidden for centuries. But there are others on the hunt as well … dangerous foes who are desperate to claim the prize for themselves and will stop at nothing to get it.

Check out our other Star Trek: Discovery season 5 interviews here:

• Sonequa Martin-Green
• David Ajala and Doug Jones
• Wilson Cruz, Mary Wiseman & Blu del Barrio
• Alex Kurtzman & Michelle Paradise

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery season 5 stream Thursdays on Paramount+

Source: Screen Rant Plus